How Did We Get Here?
by agsf175
Summary: For the second time this year, Georgina Kingston sat in the hospital. She sat there with her shirt covered in his blood. How did they get here? Was it her fault? Georgie knew that blaming herself would end her up nowhere good. She had her demons but he had more than he was letting on. *fixed chapter 1*
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 Back**

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She had asked herself how did she get to a certain point in her life twice in her life. The first time was when she was laying on the bathroom floor in her apartment. She had bruises all over her, a broken rib, and a bloody nose. The question came up when she found herself saying something like, "He didn't mean it" for about the sixth time. But then again, she might have lost count by now. It might have been ten. It happened so often that she had to just ask herself, how did she get here? How did she get to the bathroom floor? The answer: her husband came home, saw a text message from a male colleague at the hospital, and beat her. Okay, but how did she marry this man, how did it get there in the first place? Answer: She thought he loved her. Well, right there… did that make sense? Did he love her? Did she even love him? How could she love a person that did this? The war zone she often found herself in was made up of objects flying across the room, her hair being pulled, and being shoved against a wall without any power to get out of any of those situation. When did she become so powerless? So weak? It was hard to pinpoint the exact time something in her snapped and said, yes, this is as good as your life is going to get.

The second time Georgie Kingston asked herself this question was when she found herself in a room. Confronted by detectives of the Special Victims Unit of the New York City Police. Strangers telling her about how it wasn't healthy or safe for her to stay in the relationship with her husband. Strangers telling her that the rough sex her husband often had her partake in was considering rape because Georgie didn't like it or want it. How did she get into this room? Answer: The broken rib that she felt in the in the bathroom made her end up in the ER because she needed pain killers. And after x-rays and other tests the doctors called the very same detectives she sat in front of. Okay, but she was medical professional, how did she get to the point where she was receiving and accepting all of these tests? Answer: She wanted someone, anyone, to see the trauma and the self healed wounds that she didn't go to the doctor for.

After the trial, she couldn't take New York City. She fled to Houston, Texas. She didn't know why she just did, it seemed like a place so different from her life here that she shrugged her shoulders and decided to move there on a whim.

Four years later, Georgie Kingston returned to New York City. No matter where you go, if you love the city, New York City, you'll miss it. A stupid saying but, you can take the girl out of New York City, but you can't take New York City out of the girl.

"It's good to see you back in New York." Olivia Benson told her as she pulled a cup of coffee away from the vendor on the street. She put the cup to her mouth and smiled tasting the steaming hot coffee. "How was Houston?" Detective Benson asked.

"Hot." she told her looking around at the snow caped buildings and the Christmas lights hung up everywhere you could see. "Is it still winter if it's hot?" she asked Benson before the two of them walked away from the vendor and down the sidewalk towards the SVU office. Benson had told her all about how Munch and Amaro no longer working with them but stopping by she could see Fin and Amanda Rollins.

"How is apartment hunting going?" she asked.

"I found a nice one." she nodded her head. "I'll send you a Christmas card." she laughed lightly and then heard her beeper start to go off before they even reached the corner. "I have to go." she told Benson and looked down at her beeper. "Hospital…"

"Call me later, I'll get you in so you could see Fin." Benson nodded her head and she pushed the beeper away and went in the opposite direction of where they had been going.

It wasn't everyday that she sat at a desk on one of the floors bored from not having anything to do. But then again it was three in the morning and it was a quiet night. She pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through random apps like Pinterest and Facebook, mindless things that she needed to stare at while waiting for something to happen. Hours passed by and as soon as seven in the morning came along she wandered to the on-call room, grabbed her things, and left the hospital without a word.

She didn't have many friends. The friends she did have, about four years ago left her and it didn't quite click that the reason she lost all of her friends was because they didn't want to sit around and watch her get hurt. But it's not like they did anything about it either but stop talking to her. She didn't blame them but then again… she wouldn't want to watch that either.

She walked into her apartment she looked around the poorly furnished and decorated apartment. She only was able to get her hands on a bed and a few kitchen supplies so she could cook. Her next venture was a couch. She decided to sell all of her furniture when she left Houston and make her purchases when she arrived. She threw her jacket down on the ground by her purse and opened the doors to her bedroom, the french doors needed curtains. She laid down on her bed putting her phone on the bedside table made out of cardboard boxes. She was out like a light.

The ringing of her cell phone woke her. She groaned and looked over at the clock on her side table of cardboard boxes. She reached over to the phone and looked at the number. It wasn't a number she was aware of but she answered it anyway and put it up to her face. "Hello?"

After that, is when she found herself in the SVU squad room listening to, now who was apparently Leutnant Benson, the commanding officer of the entire team. She wasn't a detective anymore and she realized how much her and all of these people had changed over the couple of years that she fled to Houston. Munch was gone, Amaro was gone, and Cragen was gone and apparently they were short staffed because the only new face was a man named Carisi. "Thank you for coming," Benson said smiling at her. She nodded her head and walked with Benson towards an interrogation room. "I wanted to see if you could get through to her. I know it's a lot to ask…" she said shaking her head.

"I want to try and help," Georgie told Benson.

Benson led her into the room and she was left in the room by herself; Benson had shut the door. She was alone with this woman she never met who she was now supposed to talk about something neither of them wanted to even mention. The woman sitting at the table looked up to her and looked to her as though she was a disease that just stepped into the room. "Hi." she said sitting down across from her, "My name is Georgie." she told the woman. "I'm friends with Lieutenant Benson."

"I don't want to talk to anymore cops." she said shaking her heads. "You can't talk to me without my lawyer! I'm waiting for my lawyer!" her speech turned into more of a yell than anything. Georgie couldn't help but wonder how this woman thought she was some kind of police officer, especially considering that she was dressed in the scrubs that might as well be glued to her body at this point. She had forgotten, well more like she didn't have time to change before coming here.

"I'm not a cop." she said shaking her head. "They just asked me to come talk to you. What's your name?" she knew what her name was but it was better to hear it from her and start building some kind of relationship. Aria, was a girl from a bad part of town who was married or at least in a relationship with a rapist. He also happened to dabble in domestic violence. And she knew something. Olivia was sure that she knew something about the rapes.

"Aria." she said. Aria was a skinny girl, as skinny as you would expect considering she was on drugs. Brittle hair, yellow nails, and bags under her eyes. "My man did nothing wrong." she muttered.

"You know," Georgie said, "I thought my husband did nothing wrong too." Georgie leaned onto the table and her smile turned to a frown. "The first time he hurt me I trusted him when he said that it would never happen again. And then second time it happened he told me it was my fault. And it kept happening again and again until I thought… maybe it was my fault. And I believed it. This kept going on for years and then one night I ended up in the hospital." Georgie paused but never took her eyes off of the woman in front of her. "You ended up there right?" she asked. "That's where I met detective Benson. And another detective." She shook her head thinking back to her own mistakes. "I cursed them out and refused to talk to them and told them they didn't understand, that I loved the man that was hitting me. They didn't know me or my husband so what right did they have to try and understand our marriage?" she paused again when she was feeling the memories well up in her brain. "A week later I ended up in the hospital again." Georgie waited for the woman to say something but nothing came from her mouth so she continued, "I called the detective I met in the hospital. And I had to go to trial and my husband got sent to jail."

The explanation she had to give wasn't something she didn't necessarily wanted to keep talking about. It wasn't even something she wanted to think about. Georgie waited for some kind of answer or response, anything to come out of this girls mouth but she just avoided eye contact. She looked away from her and stared at the opposite wall. It seemed that she wasn't willing to talk or carry a conversation so Georgie got up from the table. "I'll be out there if you want to talk more." Georgie walked out of the room and met the eyes of Benson. "She didn't want to talk to me." Georgie said. "I'm sorry, I don't know how… maybe if I go back in there later. I mean you remember me… I refused to listen to anyone."

"It helps that you tried," Benson said nodding her head and then placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It put the idea in her head that she's not alone."

Georgie gave a smile but couldn't shake the feeling she had. Olivia had asked her to come and try and get this girl to talk but nothing came out of it. Some people didn't want to be helped and it was nothing she could fix. She felt helpless. "Who the hell is this?!" she heard a yell from behind her Olivia and Georgie turned and she saw a man walked towards them. He wore a fancy suit and tie and had a look of annoyance on his face. "I come back and you're having some random, what nurse, question her?" he asked looking at Georgie up and and down. "You'll be lucky if I don't receive a call about this later from her lawyer. Or have a charge of harassment facing us." Whoever he was he was angry. The man was shorter than Benson and considering the suit he was wearing Georgie assumed he was the A.D.A that prosecuted for SVU. It was a change, a woman had worked her case when she was the girl in the interrogation room. Alexandra Cabot if she remembered correctly. She made a mental note to ask her when she got the chance. Was this man even capable of talking to a victim? He came in here shouting like someone just personally offended him. As if the pure existence of Georgie was interfering in his case.

"Barba, I was just trying to get her to talk about what happened to her and her husband."

"Who is she? I've never seen her before, she's not an officer." he stated staring them both down.

"She's not a nurse either." Georgie said in a third person.

He gave her a sharp look and then his eyes darted back to Benson. "We're already getting slammed and now we're adding another person to this mess?" This man, Barba, was a piece of work. She wished she knew why he was so upset it wasn't like Georgie was in there strangling Aria trying to get her to talk about what happened behind closed doors. She said her peace and left the room. She didn't even push. "You've already pushed her enough. She doesn't want to talk."

"Maybe I shouldn't have come." she muttered looking to Benson.

"I have a feeling that she could get through to her." Benson argued with the man. She looked back towards Georgie and shook her head, "No, Georgie, you're staying here." Benson looked back at the girl, Aria, in the room. "That girl in there is being beaten every time she goes home and I am not going to sit around and wait for something else to happen to her or she goes home and the next time we see her is when we make a trip to the M.E.'s office." Georgie's skin crawled from the comment. Her head raced around with the images of her ex-husband and she forced them away as much as she possibly could. When she came back to reality Benson and the man, Barba, were looking at her.

Georgie swallowed hard and said, "Sorry, I must have spaced out." giving them both a frown. "I should get home, but if she wants to talk," Georgie looked towards the window where they could see the girl and continued, "Just call me." Georgie looked to Benson and she nodded understanding. Georgie smiled to the man and she walked past him as Amanda Rollins looked behind her.

When she left the building she took three deep breaths as images rushed into her head. The bruises she took, the burns from his cigarettes, and pain from fractured and broken bones stayed as a reminder in the back of her head. She took another deep breath for extra measure and Georgie opened her eyes back up and looked around the street. She felt slightly better but she felt a pit in her stomach form. Georgie battled with the dryness in her mouth as she thought about what had just happened in that room. It brought out whatever this was in her… It reminded her too much of sitting in there herself. So was going back really the greatest idea? She brushed it off and decided… oh well. Because she knew if she didn't go she would regret it.

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thanks for reading :)


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own SVU

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 **Chapter 2 Pit**

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Sleeping did not come easy in the night. All she thought about was that girl she had met earlier, Aria, and not to mention the big what if…

What if she stayed and tried to help her? What about this? That? The questions raced around in her head and she lost sleep trying to find the answer to the impossible question that she was never going to get. Georgie wasn't one to give up. She wasn't one to just accept failure as a result. The sleepless night made her think about what had happened to her. She tried to think of what she would have wanted to hear from someone. But couldn't quite imagine anything that would be different from what she already had probably heard. When she was approached by SVU not only did she, at first, refuse to press charges, she also refused to even admit that he hit her despite the obvious inflections she had all over her body. Denial could get you killed. And denial almost did get her killed. Which is why she worried about Aria so much. Her partner was probably just a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. It would cause a storm that no one was prepared for. SVU might be competent, prepared, but they didn't know when it would happen, how hard it would come down, or if she would survive the next wave.

Denial could get you killed. And denial almost did get her killed. Which is why she worried about Aria so much. Her partner was probably just a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. It would cause a storm that no one was prepared for. SVU might be competent, think they were prepared, but they didn't know when it would happen, how hard it would come down, or if she would survive the next wave.

Georgie had returned to work the next morning, tired, and with a cup a coffee. She was called into a surgery after rounds, and when it was time for a late lunch she got a call and she picked up her phone placing it to her ear. She shoved a bite of sandwich in her mouth before answering. "Kingston."

"Georgie, it's Olivia Benson." Georgie swallowed the sandwich in her mouth and took a quick drink of soda.

"Oh, hi. I'm at work so unfortunately, I can't come in to talk to Aria right now." she heard a shuffle of papers on the other side. "Maybe I can stop by during my break from dinner? Or would that be too late?"

"Right, actually. I'm calling to inform you that Aria was admitted to the hospital last night after she went home. She died early this morning." Georgie almost choked on the food in her mouth. She felt a black cloud loom over her. It was her fault and she felt like she could vomit. "The ADA feels that we have enough to go to trial with the evidence we have from Aria being admitted to the hospital and along with the other rapes." Benson paused before continuing, "It'll be a strong case. One where we will see this man go to prison."

"When's the trial?" Georgie asked quickly.

"Uh, I'm not sure," Benson responded. "I wanted to tell you about it before you heard it from the news. Georgie, don't blame yourself because you couldn't get through to her. Are you sure you would be up for the trial?"

"No, no." Georgie pushed away her food still feeling the black cloud over her, and nausea, despite her brain and Olivia telling her that of course, this wasn't her fault. "I… I want to be there for the trial. She had no one, right? Then I should be there. For Aria."

"Yes, it's true, Aria doesn't have any family that would be appearing in court," Benson responded back into the phone. "I just need to make sure you're not blaming yourself."

"I'm okay Olivia."

"Okay, well… I'll let you know about the trial," she said, Benson didn't quite believe that Georgie wasn't blaming herself. She wasn't wrong. They said their goodbyes and they both hung up the phone and she downed the rest of the soda before getting up from the table and throwing her trash away, practically the whole meal went into the garbage.

She felt like one of the worst people in the world. She might have had the tools to save that girl's life but she was unable to use them or had a lack of knowledge how to use them. Olivia had told her time and time again that it wasn't her fault, but to Georgie it was debatable.

Benson had trusted her to talk to Aria, get through to Aria, and what did she end up doing? Blowing it. She didn't understand how the detectives did this on a day to day basis. How they didn't feel guilty all the time and helpless was something she was never going to understand. She felt guilty from only talking to Aria once. Georgie didn't even know her last name, her partner's name that killed her, or anything else about her besides the fact that her name was Aria and that she was a victim of domestic abuse. It was different from her cases in the hospital. In the ER she sometimes only knew the patient's name and she would have to bring them up to the OR and that was the end of that. But Aria… it was something out of her hands and her control. Which was annoying; it was frustrating. Aria was in her grasp, and Georgie felt responsible because she couldn't stop it all in time.

Benson had called her later that night to tell her they would be heading to trial in a week. Georgie responded, telling her that she would be there. Despite Benson's argument that she didn't have to come, Georgie got the time and the date of when she should be there. She didn't need to be coddled. She wasn't the same weak girl who let her ex-husband beat on her.

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The morning of the trial she felt sick. She had told herself over and over again what trial might be like today. Being back in the courtroom was something she wasn't really looking forward to. Her own trial was two days and it was two days too many. And now she was going back in, on her own choice. She took a breath as she stared up at the ceiling of her apartment.

In the meantime she had bought a futon, it was now in the living room. If it was up to her she wouldn't put much else in her apartment at all but if she planned on staying awhile she might as well get started. She hated shopping. Furniture shopping especially. She wasn't the greatest at interior design. It wasn't that she had bad taste, she just didn't have the patience to make sure everything looked perfect. A lot of the time she worked on impulse buys and because of that… nothing really ever matched.

Georgie pulled a black blazer over her dark red blouse. She felt weird in a blazer and pants. She wore scrubs. Not pants and a blazer. She could fit her whole closet into one suitcase. And all of her shoes into a duffel bag. Georgie loved clothes and shoes but after becoming a doctor there wasn't much need to have a ton of either. All she ever wore were scrubs. She walked into the courthouse and pulled up her hair into a ponytail before she walked into the courthouse. "Georgie," she looked over to where the voice came from and she smiled seeing Olivia. "You came." she walked with another detective and she gave him the same smile she gave Olivia. "There wasn't much time to when you came the other day, this is Detective

She walked into the courthouse and pulled up her hair into a ponytail before she walked into the courthouse. "Georgie," she looked over to where the voice came from and she smiled seeing Olivia walking towards her. "You came." she walked with another detective and she gave him the same smile she gave Olivia. "There wasn't much time for introductions when you came the other day, this is Detective Carisi," she said introducing the man with her.

"It's nice to meet you," she said nodding her head. He was tall and the accent he spoke with was thick. He reminded her of Fin when she first talked to him years ago. The spitting image of a what a cop may look like but far from a cop that would work in the special victims unit.

"Call me Sonny," he said and shook her hand.

The three of them walked into the courtroom and they sat down together next to each other, Fin and Rollins. The ADA was up in the front already scribbling something on a notepad. She looked around the room and frowned. Despite her being different, SVU being different, hell the ADA was different the courtroom where she had to talk about the beatings she took looked the same. It made her uneasy. She made fists with her hands and tried to push back those thoughts she hated. She scanned the room and looked at the ADA, well the back of his head, and wondered why

She looked around the room and frowned. Despite her being different, SVU being different, hell the ADA was different, the courtroom where she had to talk about the beatings she took looked the same. It made her uneasy and made her feel like in fact, nothing did change. She made fists with her hands and tried to push back those thoughts she hated. She scanned the room and looked at the ADA, well the back of his head, and wondered why he of all people was the prosecutor. Perhaps it was her opinion of all men now. All men were angry, maybe. Fin, Carisi, and now him. The difference was she knew Fin was empathetic. But that didn't mean he didn't look angry. Rafael Barba, she Googled last night when she heard Olivia call him Barba, was the Harvard graduate, scholarship recipient, and one of the youngest ADAs in Manhattan. Formerly of Brooklyn. Rich was practically his pheromone.

About ten minutes later the man that was Aria's boyfriend, or partner, or husband, whatever he was walked in followed behind policemen. He sat down at the table and he looked smug and she already wanted to slap the look off his face. It reminded her of Patrick's demeanor. As if he had done nothing wrong. "Opening statements." the judge said after they all rose as the judge walked in and then told them to sit back down.

Barba, the ADA, stood up and looking to the jury, "Today I'm going to show you the rape and murder of five women. Not only that but this man's fifth and final victim. Was his own wife. His own wife whom he beat bloody was a victim of domestic violence time and time again before he finally killed her." he said. "He killed all five the same way. He brutally stabbed them with a serrated knife, let them bleed out, and then dumped their bodies like they were nothing. He doesn't care. He has no remorse. This man deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. Your job is to put him there."

If she was honest she would say that after he made his speech that she had no recollection of what happened next and regretted even stepping foot into the courtroom. While her situation was not nearly as bad as these women had it, memories of her own experience surfaced with every word that came out of Barba's and the defense attorney's mouth. They yelled objection at each other every once in awhile. And she watched the judge's mouth move but she felt like she was sinking and she couldn't hear anything under the water that had flowed over her head. She scratched her arms and felt the pit in her stomach. "You okay?" she heard Benson whisper to her. She nodded her head and figured she probably looked like a crazy person. Georgie straightened up her posture and tried to pay more attention.

She tuned back into what was happening. A woman was on the stand and Barba was questioning her about the bodies. She assumed it to be the M.E. that autopsied the bodies. The talk about the cold hard facts rather than the feelings was refreshing since she didn't have to think much about how she felt herself. But it didn't last long when she had flashes of her own bruises that she used to have. The pictures might as well be pictures of herself.

"I think I need a break." she told Benson and then rose from her seat and walked out of the courtroom as fast as she could.

She made a place near the window and took a deep breath as she found it hard to breathe. She was such an idiot for coming here. Breathing was now difficult when it should have been a task that was natural. Georgie sat down on the bench and let her hair down for a moment. She shut her eyes, counted, and took deep breaths. The doors of the courtroom opened up and people poured out. She must have been out there longer than she thought. Fin started walked towards her and sat down on the bench with her. She hadn't talked to him since she came back. He was one of the detectives that arrested her husband. "You okay?" he asked looking over to her. She gave him a small smile but didn't answer. "Those pictures in there probably weren't… the easiest for you to see."

"I thought I would be okay," she told him. "But, then again… I never had to face things like this since... But it was… too much." she said shaking her head. She scratched the back of her head and she looked over to Finn who looked back at her. "I thought I could handle it."

"Don't let that scumbag have such a hold on you. You came here to support Aria right? Don't let him take that away from you." Fin said to her.

He was right. And she nodded feeling more at ease and determined to get back into the courtroom. "What happened while I was out here?" she asked him wiping away a stray tear. She hadn't even noticed that she was crying. And now she was even more embarrassed. She wasn't the victim this time she didn't have the right to be crying.

"The M.E. told the jury about how the stab wounds were all made with the same knife. And Barba told them that this knife was the knife found with that idiot's fingerprints and Aria's blood." Finn told her. "Then the defense made their horrible claims like usual and then the judge declared that we would we come back tomorrow morning."

She nodded her head in understanding. "I have work tomorrow… update me?" she asked him.

He nodded his head, patted her shoulder, and then got up from his seat and said, "Don't worry about the case too much. Barba will handle it. That guy will end up in prison." and he started to walk towards Benson. She sat there for a moment before she had got up to leave. She swallowed hard. How could she not worry about it?

Georgie pulled her ringing cell phone out of her pocket and listened as another doctor began to explain why she needed to get there that very second. She nodded her head and told them she would be on her way. The ADA emerged from the courtroom and she let out a breath of air. She made eye contact with him. Soft green eyes contrasted the hardened exterior that he gave off towards everyone. They locked eyes for what she considered a long amount of time but she looked away once she realized what she was doing. Benson walked out behind him and she noticed her as soon as she walked out of the courtroom. She put her phone away and she started to walk away from the courtroom towards the exit. "Georgie!" she heard behind her. She turned to see Benson running after her and she stopped in her tracks and waited for her to catch up. "I just want to make sure you're okay." The ADA started walking towards her and she looked back to Benson and smiled.

"Yes, I'm fine. I talked to Finn. I actually just got called into work." she told her. "There's an emergency, uh, they need another surgeon there."

"Of course, don't let me hold you up." she said and then gave Georgie a reassuring smile.

"I'll see you." she told her and then left the courthouse without saying hello or goodbye to the ADA.

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Thanks fore reading :)

The next chapter will be up soon.


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own SVU

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 **Chapter 3 God**

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When she was called away from the trial she was needed for a huge car accident, three of the car accident victims got taken to her hospital and because of that, they needed more surgeons. So for the rest of the day, she found herself in the OR. And finally, hours later she got to walk out and cool herself off. And for a good ten minutes, she sat down in the hallway outside the OR with her head against the wall.

Her pager went off while she was at the vending machine. And the text on it told her it was a level one trauma, which meant a return to chaos. She gripped the money in her hand and ran towards the stairs and to the ground floor to get to the ER. She arrived a couple minutes before anything had arrived. She put a mask, the shoe covers, gloves, a hat, and the gown. She hurried into the trauma bay welcomed by about a dozen nurses, x-ray techs, and two other doctors. "Incoming gunshot victim outside the courthouse, two gunshots, one to the shoulder and one to the abdomen. He's a material witness in an ongoing trial. The D.A. would like us to know that they need him to put a bad man in jail." the nurse said and Georgie straightened out her gloves.

"Apparently we pick and choose who lives and who dies now?" a nurse responded.

"And if it was the murderer what? They tell us to just kill him? Are we executioners now? I better tell payroll." Georgie muttered.

"A police officer and A.D.A on their way with the bus."

"The blood bank is standing by with more bags."

"Two minutes out."

"Tell radiology to make sure they have a lot of blankets for the transfer," Georgie said. "I got a feeling that there's going to be a lot of blood."

"On it."

"Patient has no reported allergies, information from the courthouse."

Georgie's head whipped to see the EMTs bringing in a man on a gurney and it was now like she had blinders on and her whole attention was on the man. "Let's get an IV." she shouted and the nurse pulled and put up bags. "On my count." Six nurses gathered around. "One, two, three." and they moved the man from the gurney to the table. "Get his clothes off." the nurses started cutting away at the clothes and they were all torn off and put into a box. Vitals were read off, and the discovery that there were no exit wounds went into the air. The man started wailing and yelling that he was going to die and Georgie rolled her eyes wanting quiet. "Someone give him a sedative for Christ's sake." a nurse got one from the drawer and plunged it into the IV.

"I'm gonna die…" the man mumbled.

Georgie walked up to the man and licked her gums. "Can you tell me your name?" she asked holding her hand up to the nurse stopping her from injecting the sedative.

"Drew."

"Alright, my name is Georgie," she said sternly. "You came here during my shift. Which means I am the person who decides whether you get to live or die and I'm not letting you die on my watch you got it?"

"Guess we do get a say in who lives and dies." she heard one of the nurses say. She waved the nurse on to give the sedative and she walked away from the man. "Let's get the x-ray so we can get to CT." the mobile x-ray came over and they went through the protocol, moving the man and putting the slab underneath and moving away from the x-ray machine while it took the pictures. Once the pictures were taken when everyone cleared the area she came back and looked at the pictures on the machine. After a couple seconds of looking at them, she said, "Get him to CT." she ordered. The nurses nodded and pulled blankets over top of him and he was carted out of the trauma bay when they had him unhooked from the machines and the bags on the bed.

"Georgie," she turned to see Detective Rollins standing with the A.D.A. "What's it lookin' like?" she asked in her slight southern accent. The accent was familiar, being from Alabama, she wanted to step into her southern accent just for the hell of it. But that accent left her long ago when she moved up to New York City.

"You? This is your guy? City hall already told us that he's important." she said shaking her head. "I didn't plan on letting a patient die whether he was important to the D.A. or not."

"So he'll pull through?"

"I'm a trauma surgeon, I'm not exactly in a place where I can make promises," she told both of them. "Now, I got to go otherwise you're bleeding out witness is going to be up the creek without a paddle." she felt the eyes of the A.D.A on her as she tore off the gloves, the gown, the mask, and the hat. She headed to CT just in time to see the residents talking amongst themselves. Once they had a much clearer location of the bullets the man was put back onto the hospital bed and taken right into the OR.

After she scrubbed up she walked in, got put on her gown and gloves, and was ready to go. "Patient is Andrew Kane, no allergies, two gun shots, one to the shoulder, one to the abdomen, performing the surgery is Dr. Georgina Kingston, and today's surgery is an exploratory laparotomy for the bullet that was left in the patient without an exit wound."

"Sounds good," Georgie said and nodded looking at the patient who was swabbed with iodine. "Scalpel."

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After six hours Georgie emerged from the OR and walked down the hall. She took off her mask and her cap and the booties once out in the hall. Her scrubs were sticking to her skin from the heat of the OR. Sweat dripped down her head and she wiped it off with her arm. She walked down the hall and pulled out her phone. She frowned seeing a text message from one of the nurses downstairs. The message told her that the A.D.A and the detective were still downstairs waiting for an update. She couldn't believe that they were still there. Georgie headed towards the waiting room for the OR and walked into the room seeing the two of them. "He's in recovery. I got both of the bullets out," she said. "He'll be on antibiotics and he won't be able to leave the hospital for some time."

"Alive?" Rollins asked with a smile. "He's fine?"

"As fine as someone can be with two holes in his body."

"We'll need the bullets," Rollins responded.

"They'll be released to you." she told them.

"Thank you, Georgie, really."

"I was just doing my job." Georgie gave both of them a smile before she walked out of the waiting room and towards the vending machine where she was six hours ago. It was now nine at night and she was well past the time she was supposed to be there.

She pushed the money into the machine and got a bottle of soda, she wanted real food, not the junk that was in the machine. The soreness of her body from standing finally hit her and she rolled her neck trying to stretch it out. "I never saw something like that before, you in the trauma bay." she turned around to see the ADA. "Rafael Barba, the A.D.A."

"I know." As if she could forget him. The first time she saw him he insulted her. And she knew he saw her at the courthouse the other day, they had eye contact for quite some time. "I saw you at the trial yesterday," Georgie responded. "You can just call me Georgie, it's better than the full thing. And I don't do that Dr. Kingston crap. Makes me feel more important than I am. A lot of my patients call me Georgie. Sorry, I'm rambling… I ramble after I'm done surgery. Especially after a long one. It's the adrenaline."

"It's fine." he said giving her a quick smile.

"You said you never saw something like that before?" she asked laughing. "All I do is order people around." she uncapped the soda and drank a big sip. "I am past due going home though. Not to mention lunch and dinner," she said thinking about it. "And I was going to drag myself over for the rest of the trial but it looks like that plan has been foiled by whoever shot that witness."

"You care about that girl, Aria. I saw you talking with her that first day I saw you," he stated. "Did you know her?" he asked.

"Benson didn't tell you?" she responded, and he shook his head no. "Do you mind walking and talking with me? I want to head to the cafeteria."

"Sure," he said and they both started walking towards the elevator.

"I got back into the city about a week ago." she began. "I moved back here from Houston, I was there for a couple years after leaving New York. My husband, well ex-husband, used to hit me," she told him. "He was put in prison and I wanted a fresh start. Some kind of change, so I left." she looked over to him and go the same look she always got when she told people that her husband liked to lay a hand on her. Pity. "Benson knew I was back and asked me to come and talk to her. I tried to persuade her to come forward about her husband. But, it didn't work."

"Well, it's not your fault that she decided to go back to him," he told her. It was something she really didn't want to hear. No matter how many times she told herself it or someone else did, it wouldn't matter. She still felt like shit.

"No, but I do feel responsible. I knew what she was going through. I should have done something differently." she told him. "You probably know from experience… women like me they're… in a trance." They rounded the corner and got into the elevator together. She wasn't expecting him to come down with her but other company besides a doctor or a patient might be nice. "I was in a relationship with my husband long enough to think that if I left him I wouldn't find anyone else."

"So you stayed with him because you didn't think you could find someone again?" he asked looking to her. "Sorry, if I'm going past the line you don't have to answer."

"It's fine, I've talked about it enough," she said shaking her head. "Therapy, talking with other victims, it' only gets worse when you keep things like that bottled up." The elevator dinged and the walked out onto the floor and towards the cafeteria. "When my husband wasn't mad it was nice, it was almost like he loved me, and I believed it," she told him. "And because I thought he loved me or even cared about me I didn't think I would find someone as good as him, someone, who loved me. He was the only person I ever loved. I dated him getting out of my undergrad, into medical, out of and eventually we got married."

"He never… hurt you when you were just dating?"

"It was more like extreme possessiveness," she answered. "When we dated he was always really jealous. We never lived together and I was always so busy with school. But when we started living together, being around each other more and more he just… changed." They walked into the cafeteria and she pointed to a sandwich station. "Do you want anything, my treat; doctors get a discount," she suggested.

"Don't worry about it, I'll pay, as a thank you for not killing my witness."

"Well, I guess I can't turn down free food."

They ate in on and off silence. Random questions and conversation filled the parts when they actually talked. They talked about their favorite television shows, movies, things to do when they had time off.

After they ate they left the cafeteria and wandered back upstairs. Barba had left his briefcase upstairs along with his jacket so she walked him over to the waiting room. On the way over Rollins had texted him to let him know that she had to get back to work and he understood. He asked if he could see the witness, the man she had operated on, but instead, she told him that she would check on him for him and text him tomorrow when she came back to work. The hospital had a strict visitor policy, especially at night.

"Can I walk you out?" he asked her. She nodded but she had to go back to the on call room to get her things. So that's where they went, the on call room. It was an annoying thought in the back of her head that said, _Have sex with him, he wants to have sex with you and you're on the way to the on-call room,_ that made her nervous. She wanted to have sex with him. Georgie got rid of the thought, she was lonely, but not that lonely.

She opened the on call room and grabbed her things and then called herself an idiot. Of course, that wasn't going to happen… This wasn't some show or movie where the characters just had sex all the time randomly. This was real life. She left the on call room with her things and the two of them walked out of the hospital together. "Heading back to work then?" she asked him.

"No, going home to get some rest," he responded. "Then, I'll be up probably half the night working on the case. I barely get sleep when I'm working on a case when we go to trial anyway."

Normally she took the train back but he offered a ride so she happily agreed and got in the car with him. He walked her up to her apartment, which she told him that he did not have to do, and they said goodbyes even though she wanted him to do something more. Kiss her? Ask her out? She couldn't believe that she was pining over a man she barely knew. They talked during dinner in the cafeteria but that was it. All she knew about him was that he would rather read than watch TV, he liked learning about new things, that his favorite food was fried plantains, and he liked old black and white movies. But now that she thought about it, she did know more about him than she thought. He was interesting.

Georgie didn't do anything about the itching feeling telling her that she should kiss him, she might have been lonely but wasn't lonely enough to jump his bones in the hallway. She set her purse down on the counter and locked the door behind her.

A knock at the door sent her back to the door and she opened it to see Barba there in the doorway. "Sorry, this might be the stupidest thing I've ever done," he said. "I don't give into impulses but…" She pushed the door opened wide and stepped aside for him to walk in. He walked into the apartment and she shut the door behind him. She turned to face him and watched him swallow hard out of nervousness before he walked straight over to her and kissed her on the lips. Her hands went under his jacket and she tore it off. She put threw it on the couch, well futon, and she loosened his tie, unbuttoned his vest, pushed off his blazer and a smile came across her face when she saw the suspenders.

"What made you want to come back?" she asked as she kicked off her sneakers.

"You're different," he said and his hands went around her and pulled her closer. Her hands unhooked the suspenders and she started to play with the belt and then the zipper to his pants. It wasn't the answer she was expecting but she took it and kissed him on the mouth as she felt his hand go up her shirt. She backed away and pulled it off leaving only her bra and pants on. They started to back slowly towards her bed after he let his pants fall down to the ground. He took off his shoes and socks as he stepped out of the pants. She unbuttoned his shirt after taking the tie off and she pushed the shirt off and frowned seeing that he had on an undershirt.

"You wear too many layers," she told him and kissed him on the lips once again. He grinned and pulled off his undershirt and tossed it to the floor. He laid down on the bed and she took off her pants as he watched her, being supported up by his elbows. She bit her lip and walked over to the bed, leaned down, and kissed him on the neck and let out a squeal when he grabbed her by her butt and pulled her on top of him. His hands unhooked her bra, he threw it off to the side, and then his hands went to her panties and she let him roll them down. He grinned stealing a kiss on her lips and pushed her down onto her back. He pulled off her panties and threw them off to the side where her bra was. He pulled down his own underwear and threw them to the side.

She bit her lip and walked over to the bed, leaned down, and kissed him, at first on the lips, and then on the neck and she let out a squeal when he grabbed her thighs and pulled her on top of him. His hands unhooked her bra, he threw it off to the side, and then his hands went to her panties and she let him roll them down. He grinned stealing a kiss on her lips and pushed her down onto her back. He pulled off her panties and threw them off to the side where her bra was. He pulled down his own underwear and threw them to the side.

* * *

Thanks for reading :)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: More

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I do not own SVU

* * *

She woke up in her bed naked and caught around the covers. Rafael was next to her still asleep and she rolled onto her side and tucked herself into his side. The warmth that she felt was comforting and she wished she could stay here forever. But this was merely a one night stand and he would be gone soon. His arm went around her and she kissed him on the chest. "I should get going." she heard him sleepily say. Georgie knew it was coming but for some reason, she still felt some kind of shock. She didn't want him to leave. Georgie looked up at him and he brushed hair out of her face. "I have the case…" he pulled her up and kissed her on the lips. Even though he said the words he didn't move and just stayed there for as long as he could getting everything out of laying in bed with her. "Maybe I'll just get up early," he mumbled to himself. She grinned feeling like she won a battle she didn't even have to fight in and kissed him on the cheek. They stayed wrapped up in each other breathing and not saying anything. It was almost perfect and the feeling of "perfect" was strange considering that a one night stand, or whatever this was, wasn't exactly something that should fit the mold of "perfect".

"Stay here," she said and hugged his torso. He turned onto his side and met her face to face. "This is nice." He kissed her on the mouth again and ran his hand through her hair.

The two of them remained in bed for a long time until she rolled away from him and stepped out of bed. She grabbed his shirt off the floor and put it on herself and he grinned watching the whole thing. "That's my favorite shirt," he said. Georgie looked down at the blue button down and felt the soft fabric before walking out of the bedroom and wandering into the bathroom. Georgie got into the shower and cleaned herself up. The shower was quick, and when she stepped out of the bathroom she saw Rafael in the kitchen with only his underwear on making coffee. "Sorry if I intruded. I'm addicted to coffee," he said. She didn't mind at all, she was just amazed that he was drinking coffee at midnight. Georgie was used to drinking caffeine at odd hours of the day but she never met another person besides her co-workers that did such a thing. In her bedroom, she put on comfy clothing and she returned to the kitchen.

"At midnight? Are you going to be able to sleep?"

"Yeah, coffee doesn't really affect me," he told her. "I just like the taste. For it to wake me up I'd have to drink about four cups of coffee. And I usually do in the morning."

"Well, it does sound like you do have an addiction, a very intense one." she laughed and then walked towards him, and leaning onto the island. "Preparing for the case then?" she asked sitting down at the counter. "Or are you going to prepare for later like you said?"

"Depends…. Do you want me to leave?"

"Not… really," she said and grabbed him a mug from the cupboard. "But I don't have much furniture, or food, or entertainment… not going to lie I never had to entertain a one night stand this long before. But if you show up in the same suit…" she said grinning at him.

Rafael nodded his head and drank down the mug of coffee he poured. "I guess… you're right," he said and then walked towards her room. "You have to get more furniture or decorate… anything really... it looks like you just got out of college." Rafael looked around the apartment and grinned making fun of her. "You have a futon and a bed." he pointed out.

"I'm barely in my apartment. I have the necessary items," she responded.

"You don't even have a table. To sit down and eat."

"That's what the futon is for."

"Oh, you mean the futon in the middle of the room."

"Well, I'm not going to eat on the floor."

"You are a trauma surgeon right?" he questioned. "Just making sure that you really can afford actual furniture."

"Whenever I'm here I'm in bed anyway," she said shrugging her shoulder. "I got a bed and a coffee pot."

"You're ridiculous." he said shaking his head, he walked into the bedroom and started putting on his clothes and shoes that he gathered up from the floor.

"You know some people live out of vans," she said chasing after him. "At least I have a sink. And a bathroom."

"Yes, you're really living." he joked and slipped on his shoes. "Everything doesn't even match," he said looking around the room and then pointing out of the apartment. "Did you try to do that?"

"I needed curtains and a rug."

"Yes, and the curtains are bright red and the rug is… I would call it vomit green."

"Maybe I should come over your apartment and make fun of your stuff next time."

"If you come over you'll find that my apartment is well decorated. You'll have a hard time trying to make a joke."

"Well, I guess I should employ you to decorate my apartment."

"I'm expensive," he said. "Are you sure you can afford it?" His eyes darted around the room making fun of it again and he cracked a smile.

"Leave." she laughed and he picked up his tie from the futon. She handed it to him and he smiled.

She walked him to the door and she opened it for him. He walked out of the apartment and then turned around to look at her before heading down the hallway. He had done this maybe twice in his life, one night stands or flings. Rafael Barba wasn't one for relationships but he wasn't one for flings either. He had work. During college, he had school work. During his whole life, he was only in two serious relationships. One lasted two years and the other lasted around four but something always stopped him from committing. They wanted more but he was giving them everything that he had. Which made it a constant cycle of him feeling not good enough. So Rafael Barba decided after the last break up that he wasn't going to get into relationships unless he was absolutely certain of the girl. He thought that maybe he was destined to be alone for the rest of his life. "I, uh, I'll see you around," he said. It was awkward. Even him hearing the words leaving his mouth it made him cringe. Would he see her around though? He wasn't sure. He hoped he would but at the same time, he sort of knew he would probably never see her again.

"Bye," she said meeting his smile with her own.

Rafael Barba headed down the hallway slowly leaving her in the doorway.

Georgie was left to herself for the rest of the night. She cleaned out the coffee pot and wandered back into her room. She laid down and couldn't help but feel bored laying around by herself. Even though she enjoyed the company she couldn't help but scold herself that she went and slept with a man she barely knew. When she left Houston she told herself that the one night stands would stop.

When she was cooped up in Texas for awhile, recently divorced, and slightly depressed. She went on a joy ride and started sleeping with any man that walked past her. She had one night stands to flings that lasted up to two months. Her count went from one person to fifteen in four years. It might not have sounded like a lot or maybe it did, she wasn't sure. She wasn't one for appearances and she didn't care about her number. Why should she? She was a grown woman. She could list their names, or at least she thought she could. The whole reason she left Houston was that she got tired of sleeping around. She also got tired of the heat and the "southern hospitality", she was a New Yorker and it was time to come home. She came back with open wounds and maybe that was the mistake.

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And there is the next chapter, :) Sorry it's a bit short, this is the shortest chapter I think in the whole story. Next one will be much longer.

Next chapter will be up soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 One**

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I do not own SVU

* * *

Rafael Barba pulled himself out of bed. He got about three hours of sleep but he wanted to win the case so it was necessary that he forced himself to run through everything over and over again. He stepped into the shower quick, got back out, and ran the coffee pot. After the coffee was done he poured his first cup of the day before he walked into his room and pulled out a suit and got himself together. Once he was dressed and ready he was already done is first cup. He took a second and drank it down while he packed up all of his files and shoved it into his briefcase. He poured the rest of his coffee in the travel mug and left his apartment, locking the door behind him. Everything systematic, easy, and routine.

Georgie Kingston was one his mind which was frustrating. Because he was heading to a trial and thinking about the murderer would be much more beneficial. And he thought he was going to go crazy if he wasn't able to get her out of his head. It was stupid. Like he was back in high school having a crush on the pretty girl. He had to get her out of his head because he was never going to see her again, so why did it matter? Rafael got in his car, turned it on, and after he parked the car and got out he had finished the pot of coffee that he had made earlier this morning totaling the count to four cups.

He headed straight into the courthouse and ran into Benson and Rollins on his way in. They wished him luck and he smiled as a response. He quickly ran into his office where he collected everything he needed and his interns took everything over to the courtroom for him. Once he walked out his office Carmen handed him more papers and he headed to the courtroom.

On his way in his heart stopped when he saw that familiar girl that he just had a one night stand with. The girl he never thought he would see again. So he did as anyone else would do, pretended that he didn't see her or maybe that she wasn't even here. His eyes diverted away from her as he pushed himself through the doors. He did not know she was going to be there. He put his briefcase on the chair next to him and he took a deep breath. Again, he felt stupid. This was ridiculous. Sure he got nervous for trials every now and then but he was nervous because she was going to be sitting back there.

The formality of the trial dragged on and on. And eventually, the time came for summation. He had to take all of the power he had in himself to not roll his eyes at the defense attorney who spun the story into some crazy tale. He watched the jurors, trying to notice any reaction they had. If they didn't convict then these people were obviously idiots. They had a strong case, the defendant was a pimp, a wife beater, he might as well be the definition of a scum bag. Finally, when the defense got off their soapbox, Rafael shot up from his seat and buttoned his suit jacket before walking over towards the jury.

"We all saw the knife, with the defendant's fingerprints on it. That knife that was smeared with blood from the victims, all five of them. It's pretty clear what we're looking at. A man who kills and rapes, who cares so little about these women that after stabbing them over and over again he took their bodies and dumped them. He didn't just do this to those four girls, those girls he barely knew, no he did this to his longtime girlfriend. We found her body the morning after she spoke with the detectives. The five girls who had been tossed into a pile of garbage as if they belonged there, deserve justice. So give it to them. You have the power to make sure that the man who did this to these women pays for the crimes and the horror that he inflicted on these women before they died the painful death that the M.E. described. So do it, put this man in jail before he does it again." Rafael gave the jurors a frown and then sat down on at his table.

The judge dismissed the jury and Rafael gathered his papers and briefcase before heading out of the courtroom. He sat down on the bench outside to organize himself and looked up when someone said to him, "Good job, counselor." The voice belonged to Rollins. He looked over up at her and smiled.

"I don't think it will take long for the jury to settle on a verdict," Rafael told her. "At least, I think. We all know that things could go from the best to the worst in two seconds."

"Well, I think the verdict is clear," Rollins said and then sat down next to him. Olivia came into his view and then he had a thought, where was the doctor? "Those jurors would have to be idiots."

Rafael nodded in agreement and finished organizing his briefcase and furrowed his brows. "Georgie Kingston was here, right?" he asked looking at Rollins. His thoughts were begging him to say her name.

"Yeah, she had to go to work," Rollins responded. "Somethin' bout a gunshot victim."

Rafael nodded his head in response and as Olivia drew closer, his phone went off. It had only been a couple minutes but the jury was back. "They're back," he announced looking from Rollins to Olivia.

Everyone returned to the courtroom and as the first juror stood, Rafael stood, the defense stood and the sweet sound of the word, "Guilty" filled his ears for each count. Rafael smirked and looked behind at the detectives who looked relieved. He wished Georgie had been around to hear that justice was given to those four girls and Aria but, she was gone, and he missed his chance.

* * *

After the verdict, they made their walk down the steps, talked to the press, the whole nine yards. And yet, Barba had to return to his office because work was never done.

For the next few hours, Barba went over filed after file. Looking through the papers making sure everything was in order and where it was supposed to be. He signed papers, made a list of things to do, thought about possible arguments the defense could make while looking up laws and loopholes to pass easily through things. He felt exhausted, in fact, he was sure that his eyes were glazed over enough that if he looked at one more file or at his computer screen one more time his eyes were going to pop out of his head.

"Mr. Barba," he looked up to Carmen who walked into his office and she handed him an envelope. "This was just dropped off for you. I'm going home, remember?" she said. He did. She was going to… somewhere on a beach.

"Sure, sure, uh, have fun." Carmen gave him a smile and she walked out of his office. He opened up the envelope and looked at the invitation. Another gala. He rolled his eyes and put it off to the side wondering if he would end up going or not. He usually did when he felt it necessary. Charity galas were one of the weaknesses that he pretended not to have. It was good for the charity and so he forced himself into the fanciest suit he owned dragged himself to go to them. His eyes looked over to it and he realized he would have to bring a date. Not that he had to but to show up alone would be boring, he had been to a number of them to realize that not bringing a date meant he would have to find someone that he wouldn't mind talking to for a few hours. And that was harder than putting a man in prison. So he thought through the list of people in his head that he could ask. At the top of his list was Georgie Kingston but he shook his head getting the idea out. That would be stupid. And considering she was currently living out of a suitcase he doubted she would have something to wear. He quickly thought about all of the other women he knew.

Rafael got up from his seat and checked the time. It was late and after realizing that he was here later than he planned he started packing up his things and shoved some papers in his briefcase. All of his other cases were small compared to the one he finally closed. He pulled out his phone, responded to some work texts and emails, and then straightened up his desk before getting his things. He threw on his jacket and walked down the hall after locking up his office. Carmen was long gone and he noticed the bouquet of flowers on her desk… he hoped he didn't forget her birthday. He quickly dismissed the guilt when he remembered he set a reminder on his phone. While heading down the hallway all he could think about was the trauma surgeon that had fished a bullet out of his witness. Maybe he should ask her if she would want to go… He knew where she lived. He cursed himself for even thinking that. That would be weird, just showing up at her apartment, and then… He got rid of the idea.

He walked passed the paralegal office and the end of the hall, got in the elevator, and held the door open for a woman trotting out of the paralegal office. "Thanks," she said as she entered the elevator and stood next to him. He nodded and gave her a small smile but didn't hold eye contact for that long as his thoughts went back to trying to decide who to invite. He could ask Olivia for her number… or would that be just as stalker-like as showing up at her apartment? He hated himself for not getting her number from before. If he recalled he still had two months until it was time for the gala, so he had time to think it through.

The elevator opened it's doors and he let the paralegal out before him. He followed her out and pulled out his phone again hearing it go off. Couldn't these people just leave him alone? He answered it and then paused trying to figure out what was happening when someone tried talking to him. "Sorry," he said looking up. The paralegal was speaking to him. "I… was spaced out," he told her. More like, not suspecting someone to try and hold a conversation with him at two in the morning.

"I was just complimenting you on the Lasten case," she said. Her smile was overbearing and he gave her a short one in return.

"Oh, well, thank you." he responded.

"Fiona," she said putting out her hand. She was flirting with him. He might be hopeless when it came to women but he wasn't completely hopeless. "I'm a paralegal, homicide mostly." he took her hand and shook it giving her another smile. "But I'm thinking about making a change to sex crimes."

"You don't say…" he responded. Paralegals ran around collecting papers, evidence, ran errands, did all the running around and looking up of laws that might be helpful for the lawyer. He didn't request much use of paralegals. He would rather get things done himself. Interns, however, were sort of shoved down his throat. They were fine when he could remember their names. If it wasn't for it being a mandatory program he wouldn't even have interns. "Sorry, I should have introduced myself formally, Rafael Barba." Whatever was happening with this conversation he felt awkward with it. It was almost forced and they weren't even really having much of a conversation. Fiona was pretty but she looked like every other paralegal in the office. Expensive clothing, high heels, makeup, hair that looked perfect. She looked perfect. And that annoyed him. She came from money. That was clear. He kept walking towards the door but she stuck to his side like glue.

"I'm actually attending night classes to become a lawyer," she told him.

"Ah," he responded. "A detective in SVU did that… but he decided to stay a detective." Whenever someone mentioned night classes that was all Barba thought about, Carisi. But at least Carisi was a whole lot more helpful than the interns. He held his tongue to not mention that he helped Carisi study, let him shadow him, and even gave him study materials. He didn't need her asking to do that for her. The only reason he did it for Carisi was that he was a friend, this girl he just met. Unless he had met her before, he didn't think so though. "Fordham."

They left the building and he wished that she would detach herself from him but she didn't. Luckily she went a different direction, he headed towards his car, and she headed towards a subway entrance.

* * *

When he jumped into bed he stared up at the ceiling and realized something. He could have talked to that girl enough to have her end up in this bed with him. But he didn't want her. In fact, it was pretty obvious to him how badly he didn't even want to talk to her let alone have her in his bed. He shut his eyes and thought for a second. He normally was never one to feel stupid. But he felt stupid. Here he was pining for a girl that he would probably never see, especially now that this case was over, all because he couldn't find the courage to get her number. Barba looked at the clock on his bedside table and then back up to the ceiling. He wanted one thing but he would be shocked if he actually did anything about it. He never did.

* * *

For a couple months now Rafael had been receiving death threats. He didn't think much about it. Well, more like he tried to ignore and pretend nothing was happening. Sort of like his weaknesses or how he treated Georgie Kingston in the courthouse. Pretend problems don't exist and maybe they'll just go away. This also included not telling the police he worked with, his mother, or even his assistant. He didn't need anyone to worry. To make up for it he called his mother everyday to see what she was doing. She might have been a little concerned and she asked him if everything was okay so he simply told her that since he wasn't busy and he wanted to talk to her. But that was further from the truth. After losing a case about a year ago, when an innocent black teenager was killed and he prosecuted the police behind it people were not shy to voice their angry opinions. It was mostly hang-ups, text messages, nothing that involved people coming to his house. As the gala started the get closer he started to debate if he would really show up.

He further questioned it when a man came up to him outside the courthouse and threatened to push him down the steps, cracking open his skull at watching him bleed out. That was… less than comforting. For about a minute Rafael blacked out and he couldn't even remember what he said to him. The next thing he knew Olivia was next to him asking what had happened. That night he could barely sleep and he made sure everything in his apartment was locked and the security system was on probably around three times before he felt comfortable laying down in bed. This was the first time he wished he had someone to come home to but not at the same time. If he had someone to come home to he might be able to talk and get some stress out but at the same time, he would worry about her especially if these people started threatening her too. He rolled onto his side and pulled the cover over him.

After the man that had threatened him twice now at the courthouse he still received death threats on his phone. So he decided to change his number. Dodds had died and going to work was weird… different, and he wondered if it would ever get better. Benson was upset, he could tell but he couldn't do much to help her anyway. Olivia walked into his office a week after Dodd's death and gave him a file. He took it from her and he sat down. "What's this?"

"Case." she told him. "It's an open and close."

"And you brought it to me?" he asked looking down at the papers in the file.

"Figured you needed a pick me up." she told him and leaned back into the chair. "Have they stopped? Now that you changed your number?"

"Yes. And no." he told her. "I get hate mail. It all goes in the shredder. I don't even read it."

"If there's something ser-"

"Don't worry about me."

"Barba, I lost one team member I'm not losing another."

"You think of me as a team member?" he asked her giving her a cocky smile. "I'm touched." he put the file on his desk and watched her roll her eyes. "But really, don't worry about me. They can't get in here with a gun…"

"There are other ways to kill people."

"Olivia, I will be fine." he told her. "The threats have gotten less and less… now that Dodds… Munson killed him and then we put that asshole in prison. No one likes a cop killer." Barba watched the frown appear on Olivia's face. "It's not your fault."

"I should have checked him, I should have been in there," she said shaking her head.

"And maybe it would have ended up worse." He shrugged his shoulders. "Asking those questions is going to get you nowhere."

"I know."

"...I've been meaning to ask you," he said tapping his finger on the desk. "Do you have Georgie Kingston's number… cell phone number?"

"Yes," she responded cautiously.

Barba felt his face grow hot. "Could I get that from you?" he asked, he felt compelled to twitch in his seat.

Olivia smiled evilly as she pulled out her cell phone. "Got a crush, Barba?" she asked as she started scrolling through her phone.

"Will you please, just make this as painless as possible?" Olivia grinned and Rafael's phone lit up with the contact that she had sent him. "Thank you," he said, but he didn't smile.

He didn't want to give her satisfaction.

* * *

Wow, it's been awhile. I actually could not log in... and I was irritated that I wouldn't be able to continue with the story. This is a long one. But nothing with both of them. Some nice Barba POV.

I'll update soon.

Thanks for the views, reviews, and faves. :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 Cinderella**

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I do not own SVU

* * *

"Hey there," Georgie looked up to Dr. Michael Kay who leaned onto the counter looking down at her. "So, you're new in town," he said with a thick New York accent. The sky is blue. The grass is green. He might as well have told her that information instead of just stating the obvious. The way he held himself made her want to throw up in her mouth and he was just thankful that she knew how to be nice. That and her southern mother had taught her to bite her tongue. "Since you are… would you like to be my date to this charity gala?"

"A gala?" she asked looking up at her. Georgie licked her gums and furrowed her brow. "I'm not really the gala going type." Her mother was. And that was exactly the problem.

"It'll be a nice night, c'mon. I'm sure you got something in that closet of yours… You can meet some people that could turn out to be friends." Michael said. She couldn't argue that she needed friends, she knew really know on in the city after she had moved away years ago. Or at least meet more people. Did she have a dress though? She would have to go shopping. She rolled her eyes on the inside. Shopping. For a gown. She hadn't done that since her wedding. A little bit of her cringed.

"Alright, alright, when is this gala?" she asked him with a wide smile. "I'll have to go buy a gown, what's the cost of the charity event?"

"I'll cover your plate. Think of it as… a welcome to New York." he said and then he shrugged his shoulders. "It's for a good cause, it's towards cancer research. It's Friday." It was Tuesday. He wasn't exactly giving her a good amount of time to find a gown but alas, there had to be something out there. She had returned to a city that was bleeding in class and sophistication. Dr. Kay walked away after handing her his number, leaving her at the nurse's station. She was fawned over by the nurses now about how lucky she was to be going with the best looking doctor in the hospital. She didn't see it. Maybe it was her or maybe it was the dread to go shopping. She would need to find something that covered the scars. It was always such a challenge now with the trend of gaps in dresses and the two-piece thing that she thought was stupid. And the whole time she sat there she thought about calling him and telling him that she changed her mind and she was actually busy that night. But she held it out because something in her told her that she would regret not going.

* * *

By the time Friday rolled around, she had traded shifts with another trauma surgeon, she had found a dress. It was black, strapless, and sparkly. It reminded her of the night sky with stars. Something she hadn't seen in quite a long time. Not since she lived in Alabama. The black also validated that if she were to spill something on herself that it would be fine and no one would see. She did her makeup first. She put on light colored eyeshadow, and brown eyeliner that made her blue eyes stand out. She smiled putting a small pink blush on her cheeks and then looked through her lipsticks wondering what color to put on. She pulled out a light pink lipstick after she told herself to put the red down, she didn't think she looked good in red. She felt weird with makeup on but she knew that for this kind of event she would need something. Georgie smiled at herself in the mirror. Even though she put on makeup she made it look as natural as possible.

After her makeup, she pulled on the dress, stepped into high heels, and put studs into her ears. She put on a bracelet to match and then pulled a clutch out of her closet. She was ready with five minutes to spare and a couple minutes later there was a knock at the door while she rushed to put on spray on deodorant and a spritz of perfume. Dressing up was something she did so little that when she did she made sure she did it right.

She rushed to the door and threw it open seeing Michael there standing in the doorway. She smiled and looked at his tux which probably cost more than her apartment. "Wow, you look amazing," he said shooting her a big smile. "You should dress up more." And there it was... the comment that made her want to slam the door in his face. She didn't need to dress up. Hell, she owned one pair of jeans and she couldn't even remember the last time she wore them. Georgie walked out of the room and she closed the door behind her and locked it. She pushed her keys into the clutch after locking the door.

"Thank you," she said curving her mouth into a grin. "You look very handsome."

"Well thank you," he said and the ushered her down the hallway towards the elevator. He pressed the button and they waited in silence as it came to the floor. The doors opened and they stepped in while Georgie scratched the back of her neck feeling slightly awkward. Normally she was very talkative. But she felt weird being so glamorous and next to a man she barely knew who had already left a bad impression on her by just looking and talking the way he did.

"I heard that there will be broadway singers performing tonight," he told her giving her a wide smile. "I can introduce you to them and we can get tickets and go sometime. Any show you like." She nodded her head but all she could think about was how he was trying to, well she assumed, show off. Not only that but he was already signing them up to go on another date.

"Is it mostly celebrities that come tonight?" she asked as they stepped out of the elevator. They walked towards his fancy car. Everything about him was expensive. She wondered how many houses he had.

"Maybe fifty-fifty," he said shrugging his shoulders. "All the big shot politicians and doctors will be there. Some others get invited, of course, there's always stragglers and people that could afford the plates." They got in the car and he turned the key in the ignition. "You'll see. It's quite a crowd." The crowd sounded like something she really wasn't into. It sounded like the opposite of what her crowd would be like. She liked the crowd of people to be heavy beer drinkers who yelled at the television during a college football game. But then again if she liked it so much maybe she should have stayed in Alabama. Of course, that was silly... she would be too close to her mother if she stayed in the same state.

Once they made it to the building, he got out of the car first and one of the valets opened her car door helping her out of the passenger side. Michael met her at the other side and they walked into the building together. He latched onto her side and started to introduce her to people but after some time he vanished and she couldn't even remember most of the people she was introduced to. She frowned looking around at all the people in the ballroom. Michael, who had wandered off was nowhere to be found and she assumed he was busy talking to people more established than her. But he made a point to grab her ass before he walked away. Georgie didn't like having to parade around people and act a certain way and have certain manners. She grabbed a glass of wine and she found a familiar face in the crowd. She smiled and he walked towards her, "Dr. Kingston." he said. He didn't use her first name. Considering their last encounter she figured that they were past formalities.

Rafael stared at her. He didn't want to… make her feel uncomfortable but Georgie Kingston might have been one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, and he didn't forget it. She was the same but looked different. Her straight long hair was now curled in an updo. Her icy blue eyes were exaggerated with the makeup. But he realized something vital. He wanted her hair down. He wanted it straightened like it was before. He wanted the makeup off. Her with all of that… wasn't perfect. She without it was perfect. He came back out of the trance when he heard, "Mr. Barba, how are you?" she asked.

"I'm doing well, busy. And you?"

"I guess I could say the same." It was awkward. She felt awkward. He felt awkward. They had seen each other naked and had sex in her apartment and now they acted like they didn't even know each other. He pretended he didn't know about the scars on her body he saw while she slept. And she pretended to not know about the birthmark on his back.

"You're wearing makeup." he blurted out. She just watched him for a minute before she said anything. What did it matter to him what she had on her face? The statement was stupid. How was she supposed to respond to that? He might as well just had said what color dress she was wearing. What was it with men stating the obvious to her. He and Michael seemed to think that she was blind or something.

"And?" she questioned.

"You just never wore makeup before." She narrowed her eyes at his response. They gazed at each other expecting the other to say something but it was just silence.

"Should I have run it by you before I put it on?" Georgie asked him. A mischievous smirk appeared on her face; she was joking with him or borderline flirting which made her call herself an idiot. What the hell was wrong with her? Yes, get in a relationship with the man that argues for a living that will work out.

"No, I'm just surprised."

She wasn't sure how to take that. Was he surprised that she wore makeup or surprised that that was how she looked? She wasn't a makeup artist and she was nowhere near the caliber of some other women but she didn't think she did an awful job telling the difference between all the various things a woman could put on her face. "Does it look bad?" she asked feeling a little insecure. What if it did? He wouldn't lie, would he?

"What? No." he said shaking his head quickly. "I just mean that you don't wear makeup so I'm surprised to see you with makeup on."

"The only time you see me is when I'm in scrubs." she responded. "I don't wear makeup at work."

"I saw you for the Lasten case and you weren't wearing makeup then either," he said.

"Are you taking notes of when I do and don't wear makeup?" The question got him caught off guard and his face grew a little red and he avoided eye contact with her. She smiled thinking that it was kind of adorable. "Did you bring a date, Mr. Barba?" she asked.

"Uh, yes," he responded and nodded his head. "She's a paralegal in the D.A.'s office. Doing night school at Columbia to become a lawyer," he said it as if he barely knew the girl and that was the only thing that popped into his head. "And you?" he asked, the smile leaving his face.

"One of the doctors at the hospital brought me." she said shrugging her shoulders. "I would never be the one invited to one of these things. I've never been to one actually."

"Where is he? Your date?" he questioned looking around the room.

Georgie looked at his tux up and down and even though he wore suits every day of his life she liked him in the tux, dressed up in a bow tie, clean white and black; different from the colored ties and shirts she had seen before. "Not sure, he knows a lot of people. People that are more interesting than me."

"More interesting? How so?"

"He knows all the politicians, actors, all the big shot doctors…" she listed the people she had heard her date talking about on the car ride to the gala.

"Maybe he should have brought one of the more interesting people with him," he told her and she took a small sip of her drink. She laughed at his joke and he smiled when he realized that he had made her laugh. A woman started walking towards them and she could only assume that it was his date. She walked up and wrapped her arm around his and smiled passively aggressively at Georgie as if claiming territory. "Dr. Kingston this is my date, Fiona." Fiona held out her hand and Georgie took it and shook her hand. If she was so protective of him she should have just stayed by his side the entire night.

"Hi," Fiona said sharply. "It's nice to meet you."

"Georgina." she used her full name mostly for the reason that the vibe from this woman completely turned her away from trying to make friends with her. And people that weren't her friends called her Georgina. She didn't say how it was nice to meet her because whatever the annoying burn in her chest was, was distracting her. "I'll leave you two then," she said giving him a smile and nodding a goodbye. She walked off into the crowd and wandered around until she found her date but the whole night she couldn't get the Rafael Barba out of her head.

It was later in the night when she bumped into him. She was walking out of the building with her date and saw him alone. Georgie tugged on her date's shoulder and said, "I'll see you at work. I'm gonna catch a cab home. I'm pretty tired." Her date was heading to an after party with a few others. And to be honest she just couldn't bear talking more about types of wine and whether or not the Hamptons were worth going to anymore. She would rather stab her brain. She started to walk over towards Rafael Barba. She was close enough for him to notice her, she could only assume he was waiting for a cab. "Mr. Barba, all alone?" she asked.

"Yes, my date went home with one of her girlfriends after she found out I wasn't going to… well… take her home with me." he responded. "She wasn't… interesting anyway." he mumbled. "Not to sound rude but she was kind of… snobby." So, he didn't take random girls home with him? She recalled him saying that he never acting on impulses, and yet… he slept with her after only knowing her for a few hours.

"You? Calling another person snobby?"

"What? Just because I like a nice suit?" his mouth curved up into a smile and a car pulled up in front of him. "Would you like a ride home?" he asked gesturing to his car.

"I suppose if you offered," she said shrugging her shoulders. "I guess you could say that my date wasn't all that interesting either," she smirked and got into the car and he got into the driver's seat. He looked at her, a long evening dress that was black and flowing with sequins all over that made it sparkle. Her shoulders were bare and she had her hair up in an updo to show off her back. He hated to admit that he wanted her, and the reason he hated it was because he was picky. He barely dated and didn't have many serious relationships because he felt like he was married to his work. But not only that, but he was worried that she wasn't really interested in him. It was crazy to think that because of the night they spent together, she had to at least be somewhat interested… But was she? He wasn't exactly so sure that she would want to even have a relationship considering how well her last one turned out. But the small voice in his head that argued with that appeared when she asked, "Actually, do you want to go get some food?" The impulse that drove him to have sex with her was driving him to kiss her, but he buried it down and stopped thinking so much about the situation.

He grinned and looked over at her and asked, "Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere that has really good french fries," she said smiling at him. "They're my favorite food."

"I think I know a place."

Barba drove his car down the street and in ten minutes he ended up parking and they got out of the car. They received weird stares considering being very overdressed. They walked up to a run-down small restaurant where they stepped in and ordered a large batch of fries. Barba led them out of the small eatery and they started walking down the street. "Want to walk around the park?" he asked. She nodded and they walked further down the street.

She watched the men stare at her as they walked through the park at two in the morning eating french fries. "What made you want to be a doctor?" he asked her out of the blue. She ate another fry before answering.

"What a question…" she mumbled. "Uh, well, I've always wanted to help people. And I never wanted to be a surgeon until undergrad. I got pretty depressed my sophomore year. And I shadowed a trauma surgeon. It was the best thing ever. He was a superhero. My mother wanted me to just go to nursing school but… I wanted to do more. I needed more. It's hard to explain."

"No, I get it." he said nodding his head. "I always ask myself if I'm doing enough. I still don't feel like I'm doing enough."

"You're an ADA of Manhattan." she laughed. "You're one of the fancy people my date talked about knowing probably. You got invited to that charity thing on your own."

"I did," he said nodding his head. "Guity, I've been to a few. I used to work in Brooklyn though, not Manhattan."

"Well, your turn then counselor, why did you become a lawyer?"

"Because I grew up in the Bronx, and everywhere around me there were people getting thrown in jail," he told her putting another fry in his mouth. "I wanted to be a defense lawyer because of everyone in my community getting profiled for crimes they didn't commit but… I found joy in putting away idiots who hurt others. I like the look on their face." he shrugged his shoulders. "But I'm by the book. I make sure what I'm doing is right to get the bad guy away. I don't want to be a guy who sends someone away for life by accident."

"Alright then, Mr. Barba…"

"Rafael," he said interrupting her.

"Rafael…" she said, and the name sounded so… sweet rolling off her tongue. "Why isn't there a beautiful wife on your shoulder?"

He laughed awkwardly and said, "Never had much luck I guess." he shrugged his shoulders. "It's difficult to find someone… interesting." She grinned hearing the word come from his mouth. Interesting seemed to be the theme of the night. "So you never had any kids… is that because of who you were married to?" he asked.

"Yes and no," she said to him. "I was always busy at the hospital and being married to him didn't really make me want to try," she told him. "Looking at it now, I'm glad we didn't have children. They would have grown up with that in the house… they would have had to go through trial and a divorce…"

"So you want kids?" he asked her moving his brows up and looking at her.

"Eventually. With the right guy." They had been walking for a while now. She was standing and walking around all night with heels on and only now did she realize that her feet hurt. She pushed it out of her mind and tried to ignore the blisters that tore up her feet. "You?"

He laughed. "I guess I have to find a girl first." Rafael threw the empty paper boat that once contained french fries into the trash.

* * *

 **Here is the next chapter, I will try and get the next update going soon!**

 **Thanks for reading, please review, favorite, and follow!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Interesting

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I do not own Law and Order SVU

* * *

She woke up from the sun peeping into the bedroom through the curtains. Her arm was hung over his torso and his arm was holding her close to him. Georgie looked up at him and smiled widely seeing his sleeping face. Her head was placed on his shoulder and she shifted around in bed as she put her head next to his neck. He started to wake up and panic hit her. It quickly went away and she relaxed. His eyes opened and he looked down at her with a smile. "Did I wake you?" she asked.

"I'm glad you woke me up," he said after shifted his head back to the pillow and then closed his eyes. "Can I tell you something?" he muttered. She closed her own eyes and leaned into his side.

"Hm?"

"You're much more interesting than… Fiona," he told her and then pulled her close to him by pulling her closer.

"I can't believe you almost forgot her name," she said into his chest but then added a small laugh at the end. Why did he even bring her to the gala anyway if he couldn't even remember the name of his date?

"Like I said, she wasn't interesting." he scoffed. "What's your date's name again? You didn't even mention it to me," he argued pulling himself away to see her face.

"Michael." she said.

"How generic." His face scrunched up and he frowned as if she had failed his test, that she should have gone with someone with a better name. Or perhaps it was because the name that she said wasn't his own.

She had fallen back asleep and when she woke up she was still warm. Georgie had half expected him to be gone, out of bed doing work or something. But she was still nuzzled into his chest. During their sleep, they had both moved onto their sides and were holding each other. For a couple of minutes, she pretended to be asleep and listened to his breathing.

After sometime Georgie untangled herself slowly and got out of bed. Rafael turned onto his back and she picked up his shirt from the previous night. Georgie walked into the bathroom and pulled her hair up. When she walked back out to see that Rafael was awake and she smiled and got back into bed. "You didn't have to put clothes back on…" he said sleepily. She grinned and laid back down on the bed. Rafael put his arm around her waist pulled her towards him and kissed her on the lips hard and she smiled through the kiss, kissing him back.

"I guess you were right about your apartment…" she mumbled looking around the room. "Everything looks like it should be in a magazine." His apartment was not the fanciest. It wasn't millions of dollars fancy. Everything was grays, whites, and blacks which contradicted the shirts and ties he wore. Everything was clean, kept neat, and had its own place which was extremely different compared to how she lived. Things being thrown in random places made more sense to her than having a specific spot on her dresser for her perfume. She feared that if she did that here he would have some sort of panic attack.

"I like being organized," he said pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Please, tell me that your drawers are organized."

"They are. Let me guess… you throw your stuff around in the drawers and you can't find anything?"

"All I need is a pair of underwear. So I grab one, I don't need them organized."

"I have to make sure everything matches."

"Have you ever checked yourself out for OCD?" she mocked. "Because I think you should."

"If I had OCD I wouldn't be able to set foot in your apartment," Rafael argued. "I don't have food in the fridge so… what do you say to go out for breakfast?" he asked. At that moment she realized how hungry she was. The plates last night at the Gala was food that she normally would never touch. It had been something with mushrooms, something she couldn't pronounce, and she smiled through the weird texture of it because the plate had been too expensive not to.

"I don't have any clothes," she said. "All I have… is that dress. Oh god. All I have is the dress." The realization hit her like a garbage truck. It would be more than the definition of a walk of shame. She had a gown. A gown. Not some clubbing outfit. She put her head in her hands and frowned. "Oh my god."

"I can give you something." he offered.

"What something a random girl left over?" she asked, she assumed quickly, as he got up out of bed. She spotted the birthmark again and grinned. Horrified by what he might pull out she opened her eyes and moved her hands away. Was it going to be something that even fit her? Or worse than a weird fit… would it be professional clothing? Like something lawyers wore? The thought made her cringe. She would rather put the dress back on.

"No." he laughed and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and pulled them on. "I was thinking more like a t-shirt and sweatpants. I was thinking a diner, not a five-star restaurant. Would that be good enough for you?" He didn't seem offended by her comment so she moved on and looked at the Harvard t-shirt in front of her and the sweatpants that she could tell were some expensive brand. It contrasted the worn down t-shirt and for a moment she wondered what he would even look like wearing something other than a suit.

"Perfect," she said. He reached into the drawer and handed her the pair of sweatpants and the shirt. She pulled them on and grinned as she pulled her hair into a sloppy bun. "I have another problem," she said scrunching up her nose. "I don't have shoes."

"Maybe, we should scratch the breakfast idea," he told her and them jumped back into bed. "But I really, don't have food," he told her. "Wait, I can get groceries delivered," he said pulling his phone off of the bedside table.

It was easier said than done. For the next hour they just laid in bed talking, he claimed she kept distracting her from his phone so he could make the list for the grocery person to pick up. Georgie couldn't remember the last time she felt so comfortable talking about herself. She talked about her childhood, he talked about his, and they shared stories about college, living in the city, and stupid things. Like who preferred dogs over cats. Pepsi vs. Coke. the conversations she had had no meaning, no point, it was just rambles, but it was effortless and that's what made it so nice. She didn't have to try and neither did he. They covered favorite foods, favorite places, and things they liked to do. And she felt like she knew so much about him already. But Georgie was an open book and she could tell that Rafael needed to be cracked open if she was going to learn more about him. In court, he was stoic, stern, and intimidating. But when she was with him he was… soft, funny even, and smiled sweetly. If there was one thing that Rafael Barba was it was smart. He might have been one of the smartest people she had ever met. It went past an hour, of them laying in bed, and even though they didn't do anything Georgie started feeling tired. His apartment was cold and she pulled the covers over herself getting warm again.

She looked out the window and she gave a small smile seeing the rain come down. Georgie loved the rain. She hated the heat. She would rather be cold and bundled up than sweating. Rafael pulled the covers over him and he started to fall asleep. The day was lazy, cozy, and she didn't want to leave the bed. It was far superior to her own. The blanket was thick and heavy, the pillows were the softest thing she ever put her head on and the sheets were so soft compared to the cheap things on her bed. Georgie had never spent this long in a man's apartment after a one night stand. But she didn't want to leave. Back in Houston, she would want to leave as fast as she could but now, she just wanted to stay in bed and enjoy his company. She felt him trace his fingers along the places she knew she had scars. It didn't bother her, in fact, she kind of had the feeling he didn't even realize what he was doing. He looked up at her once he realized it after brushing one a certain way and said, "I'm sorry."

She shook her head, "It's okay." she smiled and rolled onto her back. "They're from my ex-husband. Nothing you don't know about." Her scars weren't massive cuts. A lot of them were cigarette burns and here and there were scars from his fingernails digging into her skin. The worst ones were on her knees and thighs, a few on her hands, from when she was pushed into a mirror and she fell down on the glass.

He circled around the cigarette burns but then put his arm around her waist. "What made you… get help?" he asked. "Sorry, I…"

"I was in the hospital the one night," she told him, cutting him off before he could even attempt to apologize and gave him a small smile. He inched closer to her and their faces were put inches away from her. "And, Detective Benson and Detective Amaro showed up, because the self-healed wounds they saw on my x-rays and things like that tipped the doctor's off." she began to explain. "I refused to let them help me. The next week I ended up in the hospital again. He threw me into the wall, and I believed I had a concussion so I went. The police were called again, I ended up at SVU, and Benson convinced me to get out of that situation. Finn and Munch arrested him. And I went to trial." when she finished explaining it he moved his hand back to her head and pushed her hair back. "That's the short version."

"You're beautiful." he blurted out. It took her off guard. She had scars all over her body, her makeup she was sure was all over the place, her hair was probably gross, and she had just finished telling him about how the beatings she took ended her up in the hospital. Honestly, she never received a compliment like that in the morning, well just laying in bed. She was called beautiful the other night when she got dressed up and the various one night stands that she had in Houston called her beautiful while they had sex, but never a sincere look like he was giving her now. She didn't know how to respond to him. Thank him?

"I'm a bit run down at the moment," she responded.

"No your not," he said and then shut his eyes for a moment. He opened them back up and gave her a smile. "What do you say to that take out?" he asked her. She nodded her head and he pulled her out of bed and lead her into the kitchen.

* * *

Work the next day unfortunately came. Well, the night before work, actually came, and she had to go home. She had to get scrubs, not be covered in make-up, and also figure out what the hell she was going to do with the gown she wore to the gala. And then she groaned on her way home realizing that she would have to see Michael, the man that had taken her to the gala in the first place. The evening had been a tipping point in the relationship and the tipping point didn't lead to something good. The tipping point was the canoe tipping over and any sort of urge to be friendly with him drowned in the river.

So the next morning she pulled on her scrubs did a surgery and then avoided the hell out of him the entire day only for her to find out that he had taken a vacation day to go to one of his various houses. Rolling her eyes were starting to become more of a necessity than a reaction.

A full week had gone by before she had made contact with Rafael again. Not because they weren't talking, oh no, they were texting here and there, but according to their schedules, they might as well live on different sides of the planet and not in the same city. They had planned to meet for a quick dinner, and then before she got to go to the dinner she was pulled into a GSW to the chest and ended up in surgery with the cardio team for about six or seven hours. He was asleep by the time she got out.

* * *

"Any plans?" Jackie, a nurse in the ER asked at around seven in the morning as Georgie was picking up her tote to leave. Plans that she wanted consisted of seeing Rafael but her plans instead were to crash in her bed because he now was working on an extra case someone had thrown in his face.

Almost two weeks later she sat down at the diner table and smiled at Barba. He looked out of place in the diner with his fancy suit and tie up against the red booths that were ripped in places. "What? Is this place going to damage your reputation?" she asked him with a small laugh. The diner, close to the hospital was their only choice and he was just going to have to deal with the fact that the plates weren't fancy shapes and the coffee was absolutely appalling.

"It might," he responded.

"I don't have time to sit at one of your fancy restaurants," Georgie told him. She looked at the menu and browsed the pages trying to find something that she wanted to eat. "I have work tonight." Just thinking about going to work doing the night shift was saddening. The shifts were killing her. She was tired, exhausted, and the traumas kept coming.

Rafael pulled the menu and he looked over the pages before he said, "I wish you didn't work nights." he looked at her with a longing look. "It's like trying to make plans with the tooth fairy."

"Such is the life of emergency medicine," she responded. "Maybe one day, if I'm lucky… I'll retire early. Move to the like… Florida."

"Florida? Out of all possible places…" he said shaking his head and closing the menu back up. He mumbled something under his breath that she couldn't quite make out.

"Fine, what's a place of retirement for you then?"

"I plan on working until the day I die," he said folding his hands. "I'd be too bored if I stopped." Georgie shook her head before settling on something to eat. When the waitress came over she wasn't surprised to hear that Rafael was ordering coffee.

Dinner was over faster than she wanted and once they were done he told her he would walk her to the hospital. She told him not to but he insisted. She let him, and together they walked a couple blocks to the hospital. "You should come by my apartment when you're done work," he told her once they reached the hospital.

"I'll be done at six in the morning, you'll be sleeping," she responded.

"I'll make sure I'm awake to get you in… then you can stay, asleep in bed with me, and then we can get some food…" He smiled at her and waited for her straight face to turn into a smile. When she smiled back at him he knew he won.

"Fine." she nodded her head giving into it. "You're lucky you're cute. With your green eyes. I'll see you in the morning."

Georgie walked off of the sidewalk and into the hospital to start her shift leaving Barba standing out on the sidewalk by himself. He stood there watching her through the glass for a couple of seconds until she vanished behind a wall. Immediately she was met with blood and other various bodily fluids. The worst he would be touching was paperwork or the plastic bags that they put the evidence in.

* * *

Thanks for reading, favoriting, following and reviewing.

Also, I've heard that he as officially left the show and I am not heartbroken. I will not be stopping the story. I will for sure continue and finish the whole thing.

I will update soon.


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